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NEWARK, NJ-Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball Freshman of the Year Derick Newton's dominant performance Tuesday night led #7 seed Stetson to an 82-67 win at #2 NJIT in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 A-Sun Championship Tournament in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
Newton, who averaged 15.4 points per game in the regular season, with a high of 30 points (vs. USC Upstate on January 14), exploded for 28 points against the Highlanders in his first career college postseason game.
The 6-foot-7 California native shot 10-for-12 from the floor, including makes on all three of his 3-point tries and he was 5-for-7 at the foul line. Newton also led all rebounders with 11.
Newton's stellar game on Tuesday represented a measure of redemption for the rookie against NJIT after he struggled in two regular season losses vs. the Highlanders. In the regular season, he shot 3-for-11 and scored 13 points when the Hatters lost to 71-59 to the Highlanders on January 16 and he shot 2-for-10 and scored 5 points in a 74-70 loss in Newark on February 11.
In addition to Newton, the Hatters (11-21) got 21 points and 7 rebounds from sophomore guard Divine Myles. Sophomore guard Luke Doyle scored 11 coming off the Hatters bench and second-team All-A-Sun forward Brian Pegg added 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
NJIT (17-14) was hurt by its worst 3-point shooting game of the season, as the Highlanders were 2-for-26 (7.7 percent) from distance, 1-for-15 in the first half and 1-for-11 in the second half.
Damon Lynn was the top scorer for the Highlanders, netting 24 points, while
Ky Howard finished with 13 points and
Rob Ukawuba, who missed the previous three games due to a shoulder injury, returned against Stetson and finished with 11 points.
Stetson took the lead permanently early in the game, when freshman Leo Goodman made his only basket of the game, a 3-pointer, to put the Hatters on top 11-8 just 4:21 in.
The score stayed close a bit longer (Stetson led 15-13 with 12:29 left in the first half). But the Hatters gained some separation when they hit three consecutive 3-pointers in a span of 90 seconds to push their lead from 15-13 to 24-13 with 10:59 left in the first half. Newton hit the first two threes in the spurt and Doyle followed with another 3-pointer.
Newton scored a layup to extend the run to 11 points and the lead to 26-13. NJIT trimmed the deficit to six a couple of times, but Myles scored 6 points in the last two minutes of the half and the Hatters held a 41-28 advantage at the half.
Newton led all scorers at the half with 12 points and Myles had 10 points, as did Lynn, who was tops for the Highlanders.
Pegg made two layups for Stetson to begin the second half and the visitors continued to build on their 13-point halftime lead.
They went up 60-40 when Myles made the first of two free throws with 10:59 remaining and they took their biggest lead of the night, 24 points at 69-45, after a conventional 3-point play by Newton with 7:45 on the clock.
Still in a 73-51 hole with 4:51 to play, NJIT staged a 12-3 rally that made the score 76-63 with 2:47 remaining, but it was far too late for the Highlanders, who didn't get any closer.
Stetson advances to Thursday's semifinal at #6 Lipscomb, which upset #3 Jacksonville, 92-89, in overtime.
NJIT's A-Sun Tournament loss leaves the Highlanders three wins short of a potential NCAA bid in their first year as a member of an automatic-qualifying Division I conference.
The Highlanders will now hope for a possible invitation to a national postseason tournament, with the
CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) offering perhaps the best hope for a potential bid. NJIT won three games in the 2015 CIT to reach the semifinal round last March.
